Semester 2003A Overview and Call for Proposals

Semester 2003A Overview and Call for Proposals

Proposals are invited for observations in semester
2003A (1 February - 31 July 2003) with Gemini North and Gemini South. Here we give an overview of the
capabilities offered and other proposal guidelines and restrictions.

Proposal Deadlines and Process

Applications should be submitted via your national Gemini proposal process. The
submission deadline varies slightly from country to country, in the range 30
September - 21 October 2002 [US, UK, Canada & Australia 30 September; Univ. Hawaii
1 October; Brazil 4 October; Argentina 8 October; Chile 21 October]. Specific details and requirements of the
proposal process in each partner country can be found by following the links
to National Gemini Office pages in the Phase I overview.

For partner countries using the Phase I Tool, a new version of PIT
is available. Please note that the definition of the image quality observing
condition bands has been changed (principally, replacing 50%-ile with
70%-ile) to make queue execution less dependent on the underlying statistical
distribution.

The assessment and ranking of proposals within each partner country will be via
National Time Allocation Committees (NTACs) supported by the National Gemini Offices.
Assembly of the 2003A schedule and queue, definition of scientific ranking bands
and resolution of conflicts by the ITAC will follow the procedures described in the Phase I overview and the proposal process schedule. All data will be
subject to the normal Gemini proprietary data period of 18 months.

If submitting a program that uses both telescopes, the capabilities and time requested
on each telescope must be stated clearly in the proposal. This is required because
the National Gemini Offices will transmit separate XML files for Gemini North and Gemini
South to Gemini Observatory for scheduling. Proposals may include the use of
multiple instruments.

If you submit the same proposal to several partner countries with a different PI for each country
(a "joint proposal"), be sure to identify the name of the lead PI in the technical justification section. The lead PI will be the person who will be
receiving the Phase II information and be the sole contact person for the Gemini Observatory and for the National
Gemini Offices once the program has been approved for observing time.

Gemini North: Instrument Availability

Instruments available in this semester are listed below. Note that there
are restrictions on the scheduling and time available with certain instruments. Certain
modes are offered on a shared-risks basis (see the definition of shared risks). Please
see the instrument calendar
for a summary of availability and allowed RA ranges.

Michelle - mid-IR spectrograph and imager. Michelle is offered in
its imaging mode for queue observing only (no spectroscopy) during the period June-July as it will be
commissioned earlier in the semester. It is available on a shared-risks basis.

Gemini North: Operational Modes

For semester 2003A, NIRI, GMOS and Michelle are offered in queue
observing mode. The imaging modes of NIRI and GMOS are also offered in classical
observing mode. (Note the restrictions on visiting observers and the 3-night
minimum classical run length, outside of special arrangements within individual partner countries).
In addition, certain programs may be selected by the Gemini Director
after the ITAC for classical observation by visiting observers; please indicate
in the technical justification section of your proposal if this would be of interest.

The balance between
instruments will be driven by scientific merit via the time allocation process.
Any instrument must succeed in being awarded at least 160 hours (approx 16
nights) in order to be mounted on the telescope instrument support structure.

There is a minimum time (the sum
of integration plus overheads) that can be requested for queue/service and
classical observing (see the
descriptions
of the modes for details).

Observations of non-sidereal objects will be permitted for all instruments.

Time-specific (including periodic monitoring) programs will be accepted on a
best-efforts basis. Note that the instrument scheduling imposes additional restrictions on
this class of programs.

All observations require the use of one wavefront sensor (WFS) star for fast guiding,
primary mirror active optics control and/or as an adaptive optics wavefront reference
source. The specific requirements for each instrument are given in the relevant science
instrument web pages ("performance and use" section). As the technical
feasibility of proposals relies in part on the availability of WFS stars, all proposals
must include suitable WFS stars. Proposals concerned with non-sidereal objects should
indicate the likely availability of WFS stars in the technical justification but are not
required to supply specific stars.

For 2003A there is an minimum elevation limit for the telescope of 30 deg
(i.e. declination range -40 to +80deg).

The following modes will not be offered in Semester 2003A on Gemini
North: "quick response" observations, remote observing and eavesdropping. No
instrument or observing mode changes during the night will be available. No other visitor
instruments will be permitted.

Gemini North: Time Availability and Distribution

Due to the major instrument (Michelle and Altair) commissioning activities during this period, in semester
2003A about 55% of the time will be made available for science use. The time available to the partner
countries also depends on the allocation to Gemini staff (see an overview of the staff process); a fraction of 10% was assumed for this
table. Estimates of the time for each partner are listed below:

Partner

Estimated Nights
(or Hours) Available

US

37 nights (373 hours)

Univ. of Hawaii (host time)

10 nights (100 hours)

UK

20 nights (197 hours)

Canada

12 nights (118 hours)

Australia

4 nights (39 hours)

Argentina

2 nights (20 hours)

Brazil

2 nights (20 hours)

To maintain overall balance amongst the partnership, these values have been
adjusted from the nominal partner shares as a result of the historical usage of time. Weather and other losses and visiting instrument payback are excluded
from this table. The time available includes baseline calibrations on the sky which are assumed to be shared by
all partners. The number of nights is obtained from int(hours/10). Note that Chile's
partner allocation on Gemini North is not included in anticipation of a new status of
Chile within the partnership.

Gemini South: Instrument Availability

Instruments available in this semester are listed below. Note that there
are
restrictions on the scheduling and time available with certain instruments. Certain
modes are offered on a shared-risks basis (see the definition of shared risks). Please
see the instrument calendar
for a summary of availability and allowed RA ranges.

Facility instruments:

Whilst not a conventional facility instrument, the Acquisition
Camera is offered for broadband (BVRI) optical imaging in queue-observing mode only.
It's capabilities are limited
compared with the (future) facility imager (GMOS). Some preference may be given to Quick-Response programs; access will be
broadened in 2003A to help develop that operational mode. Hence triggers for approved
Quick-Response proposals will be accepted during all science and telescope engineering nights, as long as there is no immovable work scheduled (due to
critical engineering, personnel travel constraints or other factors), aiming for
a response time of no more than 18-24hr.

Visiting instruments:

Phoenix - high-resolution near-IR spectrograph (loaned by NOAO).
Phoenix is offered in service observing mode only to be
operated with support from the US National Gemini Office.

CIRPASS - near-infrared (J- and H-band) integral field unit
spectrograph (loaned by University of Cambridge). CIRPASS is offered in service observing mode only to be
operated with support from the instrument team.

The facility instruments T-ReCS and GMOS-S will be in commissioning are not
being offered. However, if delivery and characterisation of the instruments
proceeds according to schedule, consideration may be given to attempting some imaging programmes from the Michelle or GMOS-N
queues on Gemini South.

Gemini South: Operational Modes

For semester 2003A, the visiting instruments Phoenix and CIRPASS will be operated in a service mode (similar to the queue) with support from the
US National Gemini Office and instrument teams. AcqCam is offered in queue
observing mode only. Certain programs may be selected by the Gemini Director
after the ITAC for classical observation by visiting observers; please indicate
in the technical justification section of your proposal if this would be of interest.

The balance between instruments
will be driven by scientific merit via the time allocation process. Any
instrument must succeed in being awarded at least 160 hours (approx 16 nights)
in order to be mounted on the telescope instrument support structure.

There is a minimum time (the sum
of integration plus overheads) that can be requested for queue/service observing (see the
descriptions
of the modes for details).

"Quick Response" programs are encouraged for use with the
Acquisition Camera (only). For 2003A such programs must be submitted through the normal
proposal process even if the specific target(s) are not known at the time of
writing (see further details of the process and
activation mechanism).

Time-specific (including periodic monitoring) programs will be accepted on a
best-efforts basis. Note that the instrument scheduling imposes additional restrictions on
this class of programs.

Observations of non-sidereal objects will be permitted.

All observations require the use of one wavefront sensor (WFS) star for fast guiding,
primary mirror active optics control and/or as an adaptive optics wavefront reference
source. The specific requirements for each instrument are given in the relevant science
instrument web pages ("performance and use" section). As the technical
feasibility of proposals relies in part on the availability of WFS stars, they must
include suitable WFS stars. Proposals concerned with non-sidereal objects should
indicate the likely availability of WFS stars in the technical justification. WFS stars
are not required for quick-response proposals (but will be required to execute the
observations).

For 2003A there is an minimum elevation limit for the telescope of 30deg
(i.e. declination range -90 to +30deg).

The following modes will not be offered in Semester 2003A: remote
observing and eavesdropping. No instrument or observing mode changes during the night will
be available. No other visitor instruments will be permitted.

Gemini South: Time Availability and Distribution

Due to the major instrument (T-ReCS and GMOS-S) commissioning activities and planned primary
mirror coating during this period, in semester
2003A about 45% of the time will be made available for science use. This
fraction includes payback to NOAO for the loan and continuing support of Phoenix (estimated at
9 nights). Payback owed to the University of Florida for the previous loan and
support of OSCIR (estimated at 10 nights) has been carried over to T-ReCS and is
expected to be allocated in 2003A, depending on the commissioning schedule. The time available to
the partner countries also depends on the allocation to Gemini staff (see an overview of
the staff process); a fraction of 10% was assumed for
this table. Estimates of the time for each partner are listed below:

Partner

Estimated Nights
(or Hours) Available

US

25 nights (249 hours)

Chile (host time)

6 nights (62 hours)

UK

13 nights (131 hours)

Canada

7 nights (74 hours)

Australia

3 nights (27 hours)

Argentina

1 night (12 hours)

Brazil

1 night (12 hours)

To maintain overall balance amongst the partnership, these values have been
adjusted from the nominal partner shares as a result of the historical usage of time. Weather and other losses and visiting instrument payback are excluded
from this table. The time available includes baseline calibrations on the sky which are assumed to be shared by
all partners. The number of nights is obtained from int(hours/10). Note that Chile's
partner allocation on Gemini South is not included in anticipation of a new status of
Chile within the partnership.

Questions and Answers

All questions concerning proposals, or any other subject, should be made using the Gemini HelpDesk. This web-based
system will send the request to your National Gemini Office staff in the first instance
who will then escalate it to Gemini staff if necessary.